Weather Guard Lightning Tech
GE Vernova Customer Center, Sophia Offshore Wind Project
This week, SSE appoints Martin Pibsworth as the next CEO, GE Vernova inaugurates a new customer center in Florida, RWE advances its Sophia Offshore Wind Project, and Nantucket challenges three offshore wind projects along Massachusetts coast.
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Allen Hall: Starting off the week, British Utility Company SSE has named Martin Pibsworth as its chief executive designate. Pibsworth joined SSE in 1998 and currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer. Pibsworth will take over from Alistair Phillips Davies, who has been CEO since 2013 and will hand over the reigns following the annual general meeting on July 17th.
Before leaving the company in November, uh, the new CEO will lead SSE renewables push helping the UK deliver on its decarbonization goals. During Philip’s Davies tenure, SSE made a strategic shift toward networks and renewables with shares gaining about 4% during his leadership.
Last year. SSE announced plans to invest at least 22 billion pounds in grid infrastructure over five years. Over in the United States, GE Vernova has opened a new customer experience center at its Pensacola facility in Florida, marked by a ribbing cutting event hosted by CEO Scott Strazik. The center includes multiple conference rooms, collaboration areas, and direct access to production space. The investments are part of GE Vernova’s broader plan announced in January to invest nearly $600 million in its US factories and facilities. Over the next two years, the Pensacola factory has already produced enough turbines to supply over 1.2 gigawatts of the 2.4 gigawatts ordered for the Sunzia Wind Farm in New Mexico.
German Energy group RWE has installed its first turbines at its 1.4 Gigawatt Sophia Offshore Wind Project in the uk Located on Dogger Bank, 195 kilometers off the northeast coast of Britain. Sophia is set to become one of the world’s largest single offshore wind farms.
The project will consist of 100 Siemens Gamesa turbines featuring 150 recyclable blades. The wind park is scheduled to be fully operational in the second half of 2026. RWE’s Chief Operating Officer for offshore wind commented that Sophia will make a significant contribution to the UK’s clean power 2030 targets.
And over in Massachusetts, the town of Nantucket and a Nantucket based activist group are challenging three offshore wind projects off the Massachusetts coast. The town recently sued the US Department of Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management requesting that the government set aside its approval of South Coast Wind and restart the environmental review.
Meanwhile, the group ACK for Whales is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind permits granted to Vineyard Wind and New England wind. These challenges come amid the Trump administration’s opposition to offshore wind. Industry analyst Timothy Fox’s Vineyard Wind faces less risk from these challenges since it’s already under construction while projects in planning stages are at higher risk. South Coast wind, which receive final federal approval on the last business day of the Biden administration could be delayed by up to four years. Vineyard wind is the furthest along among these projects with more than half of its 62 turbine towers already installed. Massachusetts Energy Secretary Rebecca Tepper has reiterated the state support for offshore wind emphasizing the need for energy independence.
That’s this week’s top. News stories. Stay tuned for the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast tomorrow.
https://weatherguardwind.com/ge-vernova-sophia-offshore-wind/
My doctor, who knows that I understand physics and renewable energy in particular, asked me today what I thought about wind turbines on boats.
I explained that, since boats need their own ways to generate electricity, what is called “small wind” may make sense. Most ships have diesel-powered generators, and that’s an option for smaller craft as well, and solar is not an attractive option because of the small area.
Doctors generally don’t have time to kill, but he asked me further about small wind, to which I explained:
Because the area of a circle is proportional to the square of the radius, big is better. If you can build a turbine with a radius 100 times larger than a small one, you’re going to generate 10,000 time more power.
Because the power generated by a turbine is proportional to the cube of the wind’s velocity, if you can site a turbine in wind conditions that are 10 times those on your rooftop, with trees and other buildings slowing the wind down, you’re going to generate 1000 times more power.
So, as usual, the answer resides in physics and math. 1000 times 10,000 is 10 million, which is why we see huge turbines on structures that lift huge turbines high above the ground, and it’s why the small wind industry has essentially disappeared.
If you don’t understand elementary school math and high school science, and you have money to burn, the investment offered at left may be right for you.
It’s interesting that there is no Fox News (or equivalent) in Canada.
The Canadians have protections of free speech that are very similar to ours in the States, and, like the U.S., these rights are not absolute. One difference is that Canada prohibits gross misrepresentation, which, in this case means that presenting opinions and calling it “news” is against the law. Lies are fine; calling them “news” is not.
A possible name for a show with the same content might be “Conservative Viewpoints” or “The Way the Right Wing Sees the World.”
Where Canada protects its people from malicious bullshit, in America we say, “Money talks.”
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich makes an excellent point at left.
The constant onslaught of distractions coming out of Trump’s mouth is calculated make us give up striving for truth, honesty, and environmental responsibility.
We mustn’t quit.
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